TGL finals: Atlanta Drive win opening rubber vs New York after Patrick Cantlay's final-hole birdie
Atlanta Drive lead New York Golf Club 1-0 in best-of-three TGL finals after Patrick Cantlay birdies final hole; Atlanta can wrap up inaugural title live on Sky Sports Golf from 11pm on Tuesday; third leg will take place at 1am Wednesday on same channel if New York level match
Tuesday 25 March 2025 09:42, UK
Atlanta Drive snatched a 1-0 lead over New York in the best-of-three TGL finals as Patrick Cantlay's final-hole birdie secured a nail-biting 6-5 victory in the opening leg.
Cantlay drained a clutch putt from six feet before New York's Xander Schauffele missed from similar range as his effort lipped out.
Atlanta will claim the inaugural title if they win the second rubber on Tuesday night (11pm UK and Ireland), while the match will go to a deciding third match (1am Wednesday) if New York triumph in game two.
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Both sides will be unchanged, with Atlanta's Lucas Glover and New York's Matt Fitzpatrick on the sidelines again.
The TGL champions will receive $9m (£7.08m) shared between the four players, while the runners-up will split $4.5m (£3.54m).
Rory McIlory's Boston Common Golf and Tiger Woods' Jupiter Links were knocked out in the group stage after finishing last and second-bottom respectively.
New York beat Los Angeles in the semi-finals while Atlanta saw off The Bay.
Horschel stars as Atlanta seize TGL advantage
In Monday's opening finals contest, Cameron Young made a nine-foot eagle putt at the 10th to trump Justin Thomas and give New York a 4-2 lead, with his effort worth double after the hammer was played.
Billy Horschel then threw the hammer for Atlanta at the 11th and converted a 12-foot putt to level the match at 4-4 before celebrating wildly.
Young won the 13th hole for New York as Thomas failed to drain a putt from inside eight feet, before NY's Rickie Fowler declined the hammer on the 14th after Horschel hit his tee shot to within five feet.
That ensured a point was conceded by New York and that the match went down to the final hole.
Cantlay said: "It ultimately came down to making putts, and so Billy making that putt [on 11] I think was the deciding point. We needed it and Billy stepped up."
Team-mate Thomas added: "It's easy to overanalyse things, but I think at the end of the day, we have a pretty grasp of what we need to do or how to handle hammer situations.
Watch match two of the TGL finals live on Sky Sports Golf from 11pm on Tuesday. The third and final leg will take place from 1am on Wednesday if required.
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